hoakley Macs, Technology

What features has Apple announced for macOS 14 Sonoma, and can your Mac use them?

In addition to announcing its Vision Pro headset, Apple managed to squeeze in some details of what is coming this autumn/fall in macOS 14 Sonoma. This article summarises what we know so far.

Mac support

Sonoma is officially supported on all Intel Macs with T2 chips, all Apple silicon Macs, and just one Intel iMac without a T2 chip, the iMac 2019 (iMac19,x).

The team that develops Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP) is already hard at work preparing support for older Macs, and has provided a detailed update on the size of their task. While test versions are likely in weeks, they currently expect a full release towards the end of this year.

Features

Apple has already provided an outline of the new features expected to appear in the first release of Sonoma. I break these down in terms of which Macs get which features.

All supported Macs:

  • Slow-mo screen savers
  • Desktop widgets
  • Video conferencing, Screen Sharing picker
  • Safari profiles
  • Safari improved search
  • Web apps
  • Enhanced Private Browsing
  • Share set of passwords
  • Messages search filters
  • Messages catch-up and swipe to reply
  • Messages share location
  • Stickers drawer
  • PDF enhanced AutoFill
  • PDFs in Notes
  • Notes, link related notes
  • Notes, Share to Pages
  • Autocorrect improved (some language limits)
  • Autocorrect inline prediction (English only)
  • Communication Safety, for sensitive videos and images
  • Sensitive Content Warning and blurring
  • Improved permissions
  • Lockdown Mode expanded
  • Accessibility, Personal Voice with Live Speech
  • Reminders Grocery Lists, Column View
  • Mail, travel-related mails on top, large emoji
  • Visual Look Up, find food recipes
  • Photos, improved recognition, including cats and dogs
  • Find My, sharing
  • Home, Activity History
  • AirPods, faster Automatic Switching
  • AirPods, quick mute
  • Dictation, fluid switching with keyboard

Any Mac used with Continuity Camera, and the Studio Display, support composition control in video conferencing.

All Apple silicon Macs, and Intel Macs when used with Continuity Camera, support react with hands in video conferencing.

The list of features only available on Apple silicon Macs is surprisingly short:

  • Video Conferencing, Presenter Overlay
  • Game Mode
  • Screen Sharing high performance mode
  • Siri, works with “Siri” as well as “Hey Siri” (English only)

On MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch 2021 models, Mac Studio, and all Macs with M2 chips, hearing devices can pair direct.

Coming later in 2023 are two new features in Music, to invite friends to a playlist, and display emoji in Now Playing.

Availability

As usual, Apple doesn’t commit itself to a date yet, other than autumn/fall 2023. Those registered with Apple as developers can already download the first release of Sonoma beta, and a public beta is expected next month (July).

Finally, Apple is apparently reintroducing a free developer tier, for those who couldn’t afford or justify the full annual subscription. I can’t find details of this yet, but expect that it will be incorporated into the developer front page in due course.